Tag: historical fiction

Book Review: The Year of the Snake by M. J. Trow & Maryanne Coleman

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The Year of the SnakeAbout the Book

Sometimes, a snake is just a snake. And sometimes…

First-century Rome. Senator Gaius Lucius Nerva is taken ill at a dinner party and dies a few days later. His heartbroken wife, Flavia, is told it was a natural death. Calidus, Nerva’s recently freed slave, suspects otherwise.  As he embarks upon the funeral ceremonies, Calidus becomes more and more convinced that his master was murdered and begins an investigation, seeking out everyone who had attended the dinner party.

His enquiries lead him to rub shoulders with the ‘great and good’ of Rome; senators, soldiers, even the ruthless and mercurial Emperor Nero. And his former lover, Julia Eusabia, who seems intent on rekindling their romance and luring him away from his wife and daughter.

Calidus’ quest is by no means easy or safe as he encounters the darkest and most dangerous people in Rome. But he knows he must keep searching for the person responsible, to bring justice to the master he had loved.

Format: ebook (313 pp.)              Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 16th July 2018           Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

In The Year of the Snake, the authors certainly succeed in bringing to life the sights, smells and sounds of ancient Rome, describing customs, festivals, food and clothing in meticulous detail.  I particularly enjoyed the description of the Juvenal Games near the end of the book with its panoply of exotic creatures and extravagant procession.

Calidus’s investigation into the death of his beloved master, Gaius Lucius Nerva, centres on those who attended a dinner the evening before Nerva’s unexpected demise.  It plunges Calidus into the murky world of politics, ambition and ancient cults.  ‘Dark deeds are done are done in darkness.’ He also finds himself drawn into the decidedly dangerous ambit of the power-crazed (actually pretty much everything-crazed) Emperor Nero.  ‘But this was Nero’s Rome, a city crawling with the cruel, the licentious, the insane.’ Within the Imperial Household there is extravagance, excess, debauchery, plots and intrigue aplenty.  And then, of course, there’s Calidus’s old flame, Julia, now a lady of the court but is that flame still flickering?  Calidus’s wife, Paula, certainly begins to suspect there’s no smoke without fire…

In The Year of the Snake, the authors give readers a lot of characters to get to grips with, especially when you include the husbands, wives, servants and mistresses of key characters.  A dramatis personae would perhaps have been helpful.  My favourite character was Piso the pickpocket who, through his knowledge of the seedier side of Rome, helps Calidus with his investigation.  Piso has a great turn of phrase and a scathing view of those who would like to think they are his betters. After listening to Emperor Nero’s obsequious speech at the Juvenal Games, ‘Piso toyed with throwing up in the corner, but somebody like him would have to clean it up and so, in an unusual rush of solidarity with the people of Rome, he thought better of it.’

The book description promises an Agatha Christie-style finale and it certainly delivers on that promise with Calidus adopting the mantle of Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery of Nerva’s death and reveal the culprit while the tension builds.  Events of the past cast long shadows, it seems.

I enjoyed The Year of the Snake.  I very much liked the historical detail that was clearly the product of extensive research on the part of the authors.  As the book progresses I did find, however, that the investigation of Nerva’s murder takes second place to the shenanigans in the Imperial Household and the politics of ancient Rome.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Endeavour Media, and NetGalley in return for an honest and unbiased review.  There a few issues with the formatting of the book, especially the sudden changes of scene mid-chapter with no indication except for an asterisk which could easily be overlooked.  Hopefully, since I was reading an eARC, this will be corrected for the final version.

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In three words: Entertaining, humorous, immersive

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M J TrowAbout the Author

Meirion James Trow is a full-time teacher of history who has been doubling as a crime writer for seventeen years. Originally from Ferndale, Rhondda in South Wales he now lives on the Isle of Wight. His interests include collecting militaria, film, the supernatural and true crime.

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Blog Tour/Review: The Underground River by Martha Conway

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I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for The Underground River by Martha Conway.  Published in the UK under the title The Floating Theatre, I really enjoyed the book when I read it last year and I’m pleased to be able to share my review with readers who may have missed it first time around.

Visit the tour page here to see the other great book bloggers taking part in the tour and for links to other reviews, excerpts, guest posts and Q&As with the author.  On the tour page, US residents can also enter the giveaway for a chance to win one of five custom-made coffee mugs. Perfect for sipping a hot drink while you enjoy the book!

The Underground RiverAbout the Book

It’s 1838, and May Bedloe works as a seamstress for her cousin, the famous actress Comfort Vertue – until their steamboat sinks on the Ohio River. Though they both survive, both must find new employment. Comfort is hired to give lectures by noted abolitionist, Flora Howard, and May finds work on a small flatboat, Hugo and Helena’s Floating Theatre, as it cruises the border between the northern states and the southern slave-holding states.

May becomes indispensable to Hugo and his troupe, and all goes well until she sees her cousin again. Comfort and Mrs. Howard are also traveling down the Ohio River, speaking out against slavery at the many riverside towns. May owes Mrs. Howard a debt she cannot repay, and Mrs. Howard uses the opportunity to enlist May in her network of shadowy characters who ferry babies given up by their slave mothers across the river to freedom. Lying has never come easy to May, but now she is compelled to break the law, deceive all her new-found friends, and deflect the rising suspicions of Dr. Early who captures runaways and sells them back to their southern masters.

As May’s secrets become more tangled and harder to keep, the Floating Theatre readies for its biggest performance yet. May’s predicament could mean doom for all her friends on board, including her beloved Hugo, unless she can figure out a way to trap those who know her best.

Praise for The Underground River

“The Underground River is both a dear love story and a page-turning adventure about the Underground Railroad – and an unwilling participant. An extraordinary cast of memorable characters gives this book irresistible appeal while the setting on the watery boundary between North and South places them in dangerous and morally ambiguous territory. A captivating, thoughtful, and unforgettable read.” (Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House and Glory over Everything)

“It is part of Martha Conway’s gift as a writer to weave stories from the richest and most interesting periods of American history. Set on a nineteenth century floating theatre on the Ohio River, The Underground River is a riveting and atmospheric novel about slavery, betrayal and redemption, with a memorably forthright heroine, and a plot as fast flowing and twisty as the river itself.” (Louisa Treger, author of The Lodger)

“Warning: The Underground River is a page-turner. Be prepared to stay up late reading, because once you start you won’t want to put it down. From the first page to the last, Martha Conway’s novel is riveting, immersing the reader in the adventures of an unlikely heroine who finds courage, independence and love amid the social turmoil of the Underground Railroad. Vividly drawn settings, original characters, and perilous situations make this mesmerizing book one you will remember for years to come.” (Amy Belding Brown, author of Flight of the Sparrow)

“Well-researched and gripping to the end, The Underground River is a vivid look at a pivotal chapter in American history.” (The Mercury News)

“Readers will profit from narrator May’s attention to detail and will appreciate the richly drawn showboat and the North-South border setting.” (Booklist)

Format: Audiobook, hardcover, ebook   Publisher: Touchstone
Published: 20th June 2017                          Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
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My Review

I was drawn to this book by the description and, I have to admit, the gorgeous cover.  What I enjoyed was the story of May and the colourful characters who make up the members of the floating theatre as they travel down river stopping at small towns to give performances to the local people.

The author has chosen to make her protagonist, May, rather naïve, uncomfortable in social situations and someone who takes everything very literally.   This does help explain why May responds as she does to certain events in the narrative.   So it’s lovely when May finally learns to suspend her disbelief and become immersed in what she is seeing on the stage in the way Hugo, the theatre owner, hoped she would.  ‘But then, rather quickly if the actors are any good, something happens and somehow you drop into the fiction of the Italian countryside, and there you are.  You forget all about the people around you because the only people that exist are the actors on stage, and the only world is the world they are playing out for you.  You’ve lost yourself in the fiction.’  Isn’t that what we all hope from a book as well?

Although the storyline does touch on the issue of slavery and its cruelty, The Underground River is not an in-depth analysis of the realities of slavery, the abolition movement and what became known as the ‘underground railroad’.  However, it does not set out to be.  Instead it’s a well-written, entertaining story, with a likeable heroine, full of engaging characters in an imaginative setting during a turbulent period of American history. It’s also a tender and touching love story.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Bonnier Zaffre, in return for an honest review.  [Review relates to the UK edition published under the title The Floating Theatre.]

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In three words: Enjoyable, engaging, romantic

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MarthaConwayAbout the Author

Martha Conway grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the sixth of seven daughters. Her first novel was nominated for an Edgar Award, and she has won several awards for her historical fiction, including an Independent Book Publishers Award and the North American Book Award for Historical Fiction. Her short fiction has been published in the Iowa Review, Massachusetts Review, Carolina Quarterly, Folio, Epoch, The Quarterly, and other journals. She has received a California Arts Council Fellowship for Creative Writing, and has reviewed books for the Iowa Review and the San Francisco Chronicle. She now lives in San Francisco, and is an instructor of creative writing for Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program and UC Berkeley Extension. She is the author of The Underground River.

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